1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a facsimile system having a card mounting portion which loads an electronic telephone directory card or any other data memory card so that the card will be freely detachable.
2. Related Background Art
Facsimile system has been incorporated with various advanced functions recently and is getting more and more multifunctional. In part of advancing and further diversifying built-in functions, it becomes possible to register receiving stations in abbreviated dial sets. Thus, the number of operation input switches on the operator panel is tend to increase. This increase in the number of switches causes a problem that individual switches are made too compact and thereby the operability is deteriorated.
A new system has been employed (disclosed, for example, in FIG. 1 of U.S. Pat. Application Ser. No. 468,869 filed in Jan. 23, 1990), wherein one operation input switch contains multiple input functions and selects any input function.
With the advent of a multifunctional facsimile system, an IC ROM card has installed to double the functions of a facsimile system. The ROM card is used with its end connected to a connector of the facsimile system to increase memory capacity of a main unit of the facsimile system.
However, if one facsimile system is shared among multiple users, the users sometimes have different receiving stations of facsimile. In the aforesaid prior system, the number of registrable abbreviated dial sets and the memory capacity are limited. Therefore, multiple users cannot register their intended company names in memory of the main unit of a facsimile system.
To solve these problems, in U.S. Pat. Application Ser. No. 539,344 filed on Jun. 18, 1990 has been proposed facsimile system comprising a mounting portion which receives an electronic telephone directory card or any other data memory card having data input keys so that the card will be freely detachable. Therein, the loaded data memory card can be operated externally. In this proposal, the mounting portion for loading a card constitutes a recess 21 in the main unit of the facsimile system and measures the size of the data memory card as shown in FIG. 41. Cards are inserted into the recess 21 from above or sideways. The cards are displaced laterally with springs and then positioned.
A card thus loaded works to communicate data with the main unit of a facsimile system. Information specified with operating keys on the card is sent as optical information from light emitting elements on the back of the card into light receiving elements in the main unit of the facsimile system.
However, in the foregoing facsimile system, a card is placed on the bottom of the recess 21 in the mounting portion and then positioned. Therefore, the card must be allocated not to cause a gap between the card and the bottom of the recess 21. If a gap is created between the card and facsimile system, light emitting elements on the back of the card and light receiving elements in the main unit of the facsimile system are positioned incorrectly. Due to insufficient light or incident external light, the light receiving elements may receive incorrect optical information.
A gap is created between a card and the bottom of a recess 21 of a loader, because the card weights only several grams. Therefore, when the card is positioned askew, the end of the card is galled to the side wall of the concave section 21 of the loader. As a result, the card is not adhered to the bottom of the recess of the loader. To overcome this problem, a card may be made heavier. A card acting as an electronic telephone directory is often put in a purse and carried here and there. It should be compact and light-weight. A heavier card may lead to an increase in costs. Thus, adhesion between the card and the bottom the recess 21 is dependent of the card weight. When an electronic telephone directory card is loaded into the main unit of a facsimile system, it must be placed precisely. This requires a user's attention.